“There’s nothing that the Black man could use to earn
Burn Hollywood Burn”

- Chuck D, Ice Cube, Big Daddy Kane

By Solomon Comissiong

Another Oscar (Academy Awards) season has come and gone and so, too, with it another year of Hollywood subsidized racist imagery. Hollywood, like many American mainstream institutions, has the ability to socially condition a great deal of the populous and therefore society. This social conditioning has, by design, far researching ramifications, especially for people of color. African Americans, for instance, continue to bare the brunt of Hollywood’s perpetual racist social conditioning. The American film industry has a long tainted history in depicting black people in the most negative manner. Their motives, in general, are rooted in nothing short of institutionally racist and white supremacist themes. Films like D.W. Griffith’s “Birth of a Nation” often serve as a point of reference in highlighting the American film industry’s repugnant and racist past. However, structural racism within Hollywood, as with America, is alive and well in 2010. The racist nature of the US is manifested throughout every corner of the country; Hollywood is merely one of those places.

America is a paragon when it comes to institutional racism. This country could give a damn what kind of longstanding impact its debilitating system has on people of color. In essence, America has no conscience regarding its inherent bigotry. Institutional racism and white supremacy are so tightly stitched into the flawed fabric of America that it has become virtually undetectable, much like carbon monoxide, until the fatal damage is done. Police brutality and gentrification are two of the more deleterious forms of institutional racism, however even in the world of “entertainment”, where racism is frequently marketed, racism has long been fashionable. Movies like “Precious” are heavily promoted because they reinforce common racist stereotypes of black women that much of white America enjoys believing in. The fact that some black people, who have long prostituted themselves to white America(e.g. Oprah), underwrite these types of films only it makes it easier for the white dominated film industry to market to the masses. Films that feed into the most destructive stereotypes are no less racist simply because they are made, endorsed or supported by black luminaries. Were early 20th century minstrel shows any less racist because they often featured black people within them? Unlike many of the African Americans who were forced into those roles, people like Oprah seem to enjoy “tap dancing” for white people. As a matter of fact the institutionalization of these stereotypically racist films (Precious) is exactly what makes them so dangerous in the 21st century—their racism is virtually unnoticeable to the media-illiterate mind. America’s atmosphere of racism is so smothering that many people of color have subconsciously absorbed it and redirected the bigotry towards themselves, as well as their communities.

Hollywood and white America, in general, enjoy rewarding black people who are willing to perpetuate racist stereotypes that denigrate African Americans. This is why white owned media corporations (radio, television, record labels) love to promote the most racially stereotypical images in Hip Hop, all the while methodically repressing the most talented, progressive and resistance oriented black and brown skinned rappers. There was no need for a term such as “Underground Rap” until these nefarious white corporations began to buy out everything from the record labels to radio stations, thus suppressing the empowering messages of Hip Hop’s “Golden Era”. Rewarding black people to promote their racist beliefs of African Americans saves them the limited public rebuke, and hassle, of having to do it themselves—all the while making them money. It makes them feel as though they have no blood on their slime laden palms. Meanwhile, the cognitive decapitation goes on without a hitch. On March 5th 2006 the “Academy Awards” rewarded the African American rap group Three 6 Mafia with an Oscar for best song for their hit, “Its Hard out here for a Pimp.” As the progressive Boston based rapper (Akrobatik) said in his song “Front Steps/Tough Love,” “They shut down the conscious rastas but talk about being a pimp, you’ll win an Oscar.”

As long as Hollywood and the film industry are predominately controlled by so-called liberal or conservative whites, progressive images of blacks will always be filtered down. America, in general, is a nation unwilling to face up to its ugly truths about the past, as well as the present. And because of this, America’s future regarding institutional racism has no end in sight. The United States would rather spend billions of dollars falsely promoting itself throughout the globe as some kind of utopia for all people regardless of their backgrounds, rather than doing anything constructive—such as dismantling its systems of structural racism and ubiquitous white supremacy.

While the US attempts to psychologically manipulate people into believing that they do not systemically oppress people of color, tens of millions of people of color are being systematically oppressed, starved, warehoused and ultimately killed. And the US believes it has the moral ground to lecture Cuba on racism? The inherently racist American propaganda machine has no limits—the Hollywood film industry is a vessel used to regularly carry out their reprehensible campaign. Hollywood and corporate media are used to tame, obfuscate and socially engineer Americans, whether they are black, brown, red or white. Knowing what we do about Hollywood can we really expect them to produce more films that are socially conscious, culturally edifying, historically accurate, or dare I say—not virulently racist? With movies like “The Blind Side”, the answer should be as clear as day.

The Blind Side the classic racist white paternalistic thrash that Hollywood frequently puts out. It is a movie that features Sandra Bullock as white southern woman who takes in, along with her opulent family, a large homeless African American teenage male from the “wrong side of town” (always the black side). Throughout the movie she and her family “nurture” and build up the young man into someone they now feel is ready for society and who has lived up to his “full potential”.

With the help of these “white people” the young man soon becomes a standout, on and off the football field. This movie is apparently based on a “true story” but do we ever ask ourselves why these types of “true stories” always make their way to the “big screen?” It always has to be a white “savior” saving the black and brown kids from themselves and their neighborhood. Never will one find a movie where the black and brown kids are trying to save their communities from the constant onslaught of American institutional racism. If America was a socially progressive society these types of films would be a lot more balanced and therefore more accurate. People of color (especially those with progressive ideologies) would have much more say and control of their images, and stories, throughout Hollywood and the media. As it stands, Hollywood actively recruits, promotes and rewards as many socially malleable blacks as they possibly can. Until progressive and historically astute African Americans fully control the creation, production, and distribution of its images Hollywood will always produce and support factually limited and inherently racist imagery of blacks. A planned lack of accuracy and context within most Black “History” based Hollywood films purposefully confuses moviegoers with little point of reference to begin with.

Instead of factually and socially misleading films like Invictus there should be films called “Spear of the Nation” that chronicle the military wing (Umkhonto we Sizwe) of the African National Congress beginning in the 1960s. However, Hollywood, and white America, wants nothing to do with images and stories of Africans resisting (through armed struggle) the evils of white supremacy and European colonization. Whether in Zimbabwe or Angola, black Africans resisted European colonization tooth and nail. Black people should never rely on to tell their stories, especially those of resistance and struggle. Hollywood’s role, like America’s, is to mollify any notion of black resistance. Therefore films like Invictus only serve as models of pacification while taking attention away from the fact that whites in South Africa still enjoy the “fruits” of the land they stole from indigenous black Africans. Invictus makes sure the viewer thinks nothing about the majority of black South Africans who, to this day, live in devastating poverty. Invictus creates the illusion that blacks and white in South African live in equality. The safe image of Nelson Mandela in 1995 is as nonthreatening to the white power structure as Barak Obama was to many of the white liberals who voted for him in 2008. Invictus also uses the backdrop of the 1995 Rugby World Cup to create the false impression of unity and equity in South Africa. That notion couldn’t be further from the truth! Progressiveness and equity continually evade Hollywood as they do US society.

Unfortunately Hollywood (and America) is far from being socially progressive. However, if it was, we might see movies like, “The Life and Times of Nat Turner”. That would certainly be a movie that I would love to watch, especially the action packed last 45 minutes as the protagonist (Mr. Nat Turner) exacts his justifiable revenge. I would relish seeing many movies in which Native Americans soundly defeat every group of thuggish white cowboys (thieves) trying to encroach on their land. And instead of movies like “The Blind Side” there would be movies featuring titles like “The Right Side”. This movie would detail the life of a poor white teenage boy who grew up in a trailer park amongst an openly racist community and within a broken and extremely racist family (this is a true story replicated throughout America). The young man wanders onto the “right side” of town (in this case the black side of town), where he is taken in by an African American family that teaches him civility, justice, resistance, and humanity. The author would also gladly pay to view multiple films featuring black educators going into predominately white schools to help properly socialize the white students to live their lives free of the racist and xenophobic poison their parents (and America) tried to systematically feed them.

Finally, there would have to be movies that exposed the vile and racist nature of policing in America. However, justice was ultimately achieved when a group of racist white cops found guilty in a police brutality case are sentenced to life in a privately owned prison. The ultimate icing on the cake for this masterpiece shows a portrayal of a prison system consisting of 70 percent white men. Rotting in those prisons would be the cops who murdered scores of black and brown men like Sean Bell, Oscar Grant, and Timothy Stansbury. Unfortunately movies like those do not exist, at least not in Hollywood. More importantly, reality and justice like this does not reside anywhere within the fabricated borders of American society. Until they do the fight for equality must continue and the resistance to white supremacy must remain ceaseless. Tangible justice and equality will only be achieved if we remain consistent in our collective fight.

Media stereotypes of Asian Americans must end
By Hua Wang
February 1, 2000

While watching Disney's Lady and the Tramp with my six-year-old cousin, I was slapped in the face by a scene stinging of racial animosity.

How could a pair of slant-eyed Siamese cats slinking around speaking in a threatening, sneering mockery of an Asian accent not be called offensive? Worst of all, what effects could such an insensitive scene have on the thousands of impressionable children that watch this movie?

Maybe I am overreacting, but I fear these stereotypes damage Asian Americans' interactions with mainstream society. The underlying theme of Asian stereotypes is that Asians are undesirables who bring vice and impurity into America. Already, my cousin has pointed out that in movies Asians play the bad guys and Caucasians are the good guys who save the day.

The multifaceted Asian-American presence is invisible in the media-a mixed cocktail of propaganda and hysteria. Because the media identifies whiteness with power, prestige and money, yellowness must be the expression of ugliness, alienation and weakness.

Asians are portrayed as one-dimensional mathematicians who love to cook rice, own grocery stores and tinker with the latest technological innovations.

Rather than playing super heroes who save the world singlehandedly, Asians are reduced to being shy and humble sidekicks who are inherently incapable of speaking unaccented English, dribbling a basketball or charming the opposite sex. Although these can be termed "positive" stereotypes, the model minority myth pressures Asian Americans to conform to Hollywood's false representations.

These stereotypes portray Asian Americans as lacking in leadership, innovation and motivation. Consequently, many Asian Americans encounter a white ceiling that prevents them from being promoted to top executive and administrative positions.

And while Asian-American adults feel hindered by the stereotypes, many Asian-American youths adopt a depressing mindset that leads to self doubt. They feel defined by society's expectations of their talents. They mask feelings of helplessness, frustration and desperation as they try to please society. They feel limited by society's expectations, and this prevents them from venturing out into the unknown.

In The Worm of Suzie Wong, the producers satisfied the white male fantasy of Asian women as sexual slaves. Suzie solicits sex by asking white males: "You're looking for a girlfriend? I'm here for rent for a whole month." In her parting remark to her Anglo boyfriend, Suzie sadly states: "I will love you until you let me go."

Paradoxically, while Asian females are portrayed as ultra-feminine sex objects for white men, Asian males are portrayed as weak, obedient and asexual. In M. Butterfly, the male protagonist puts it bluntly: "Being an Oriental, I could never be completely a man."

The effeminate projection of the Asian male and the erotic projection of the Asian female influence social expectations and reinforce stereotypes. Consequently, many Asian American youths suffer an identity crisis precipitated by the media's racial stereotyping.

Asian-American boys are told that they are sexless automatons who have no hope of growing up to be strong, sexy and admired. Asian-American girls are told that they will be accepted only if they act dumb, docile and sexually submissive.

In short, the media serve as psychological pressure points that force Asian-American youths to choose between being accepted according to Hollywood standards or being rejected through the development of their own identities.

As an Asian American, why do I have to live up to the model minority myth and be expected to excel in school and never cause trouble? When will the world stop viewing me as Suzie Wong, China Doll, or the bitchy girl on Ally McBeal?

I am neither exotic nor foreign. I'm a Chinese-American woman: Aggressive but sensitive; strong but fragile; confident but humble. Don't mistake me for what you see on TV.

I'm glad you posted these articles, because they pretty much show the truth of how Hollywood degrades minorities like it's some type of pass time.

To be honest, I'm tired of the black women being portrayed as a loud-mouthed, obese, vulgar, big booty, Ebonics speaking, harlot. Why is it that we can't be portrayed in a positive light? Why dose the black person constantly die in the movie, yet he's usually the one who chooses the wises option?

I'm glad you posted these articles, because they pretty much show the truth of how Hollywood degrades minorities like it's some type of pass time.

To be honest, I'm tired of the black women being portrayed as a loud-mouthed, obese, vulgar, big booty, Ebonics speaking, harlot. Why is it that we can't be portrayed in a positive light? Why dose the black person constantly die in the movie, yet he's usually the one who chooses the wises option?

Yet they tell us to get over it or it's just humor.

Who is First Lady Michelle Obama. However that would be an informative documentary, not entertainment. Or is it?

Some of my favorite Hollywood actors are actually African Americans, such as Morgan Freeman(Unforgiven, Se7en,), Will Smith(7 Pounds, Hitch), and Samuel L. Jackson(Black Snake Moan, Resurrecting The Champ) just to name a few. Therefore I think the fact of the matter is that there's a sever lack of fictional as well as mythical icons in the mainstream entertainment business, not necessarily a bad thing when you consider that the black entertainment industry itself isn't all that inspiring, IMO. Because I personally think that the African Americans have some real inspiring individuals, but even when their own ethnicity don't look up to them as a part of their own culture, just how can they compete against the fictional images of the black pop culture?

I'm glad you posted these articles, because they pretty much show the truth of how Hollywood degrades minorities like it's some type of pass time.

To be honest, I'm tired of the black women being portrayed as a loud-mouthed, obese, vulgar, big booty, Ebonics speaking, harlot. Why is it that we can't be portrayed in a positive light? Why dose the black person constantly die in the movie, yet he's usually the one who chooses the wises option?

Yet they tell us to get over it or it's just humor.

Lol black women being portrayed as women with big booties? hahaha that was funny, lol how the hell can you stop an act of nature. A black woman without an ass is like peanut butter with no jelly. Not all black women are portrayed this way. You will only see them in this light in the usual "hood" movies directed by african americans. Black people dont even die first in movies anymore and no they dont always die. Did you watch Deep Blue Sea? LL Cool J survived while that shark was tearing everyone else up.

If you want to be upset blame the producers just like the hip hop producers. What are most black films usually about? Lets see a black romance, some thug trying to make it in the hood, comedy. Whites create all kinds of movies ranging from adventure, thrillers, fantasy, action etc. So if we going to stay in the same genre over and over and not do anything different then the stereotypes will stay. Just look at all the stereotypes hip hop is causing.

it's okay to poke fun at things every now and then i mean chris rock makes fun of white people like there is no tommorow and I laugh at every joke he does tell. Hell I live in the south, kentucky at that you don't want to know how many jokes I get just for being called a stupid racist redneck, tebagger but I don't let those names hurt me. The funny thing most hollywood producers that use these stereotypes are the race they are making fun like in scary movie or house party.

I'm glad you posted these articles, because they pretty much show the truth of how Hollywood degrades minorities like it's some type of pass time.

To be honest, I'm tired of the black women being portrayed as a loud-mouthed, obese, vulgar, big booty, Ebonics speaking, harlot. Why is it that we can't be portrayed in a positive light? Why dose the black person constantly die in the movie, yet he's usually the one who chooses the wises option?

Yet they tell us to get over it or it's just humor.

Lol black women being portrayed as women with big booties? hahaha that was funny, lol how the hell can you stop an act of nature. A black woman without an ass is like peanut butter with no jelly. Not all black women are portrayed this way. You will only see them in this light in the usual "hood" movies directed by african americans. Black people dont even die first in movies anymore and no they dont always die. Did you watch Deep Blue Sea? LL Cool J survived while that shark was tearing everyone else up.

If you want to be upset blame the producers just like the hip hop producers. What are most black films usually about? Lets see a black romance, some thug trying to make it in the hood, comedy. Whites create all kinds of movies ranging from adventure, thrillers, fantasy, action etc. So if we going to stay in the same genre over and over and not do anything different then the stereotypes will stay. Just look at all the stereotypes hip hop is causing.

Yeah, I've seen that movie, dumb as hell. Samuel L. Jackson was killed, though. Proving my point that if there are two black guys in a movie, one of them has to die.

Lol black women being portrayed as women with big booties? hahaha that was funny, lol how the hell can you stop an act of nature. A black woman without an ass is like peanut butter with no jelly.

Sometimes in movies they over-exaggerate the big booty thing, that's all. I wasn't saying it was a bad thing, and there are black women without an ass. It's more common than you think.

Hollywood is in the industry to make money and the harsh truth is that audience especially American audience whom they generally cater to are not into strong Asian roles, romantic, heroic or otherwise and stereotypes are easier for audience to digest and understand. The movie "Romeo must die", where Jet Li, the romantic lead was supposed to kiss the heroine Aaliyah, in the end. Producers tested a group of audience who watch the movie and most expressed discomfort at such a scene. So much so the scene was removed where the end showed Romeo just hugging Juliet, a farce considering the actual theme of the movie.

Also while its good to point out white racism against other races, but other races also are racist within their own race and to other races. China during the middle kingdom considered those outside China to be barbarians. Japan at some point considered Koreans as a lowly race. In the past, the Spanish considered Jewish people as a blight and drove them out of Europe. In Israel,there are reports of dark-skinned Jewish people being shunned and abused. There were Chinese people who expressed that they were being discriminated by blacks in America. To just point everything to the whites as racist, the fact of the matter is, almost every race is guilty of racism.

The answer, probably patience, sensitivity and understanding and where racism generally comes from the elderly or the parents, the young need to learn quickly what is right and what is wrong from these very people they were raised from or look up to. Its up to the young to stamp out these racist views, traditions and beliefs.

I agree that Hollywood pushes racist stereotypes, but I find it very hypocritical of them. They largely endorsed Obama and said those who don't aren't racist, yet they themselves demean minorities and white people as well. Overall I think Hollywood is just morally depraved.

Hollywood is in the industry to make money and the harsh truth is that audience especially American audience whom they generally cater to are not into strong Asian roles, romantic, heroic or otherwise and stereotypes are easier for audience to digest and understand. The movie "Romeo must die", where Jet Li, the romantic lead was supposed to kiss the heroine Aaliyah, in the end. Producers tested a group of audience who watch the movie and most expressed discomfort at such a scene. So much so the scene was removed where the end showed Romeo just hugging Juliet, a farce considering the actual theme of the movie.

Also while its good to point out white racism against other races, but other races also are racist within their own race and to other races. China during the middle kingdom considered those outside China to be barbarians. Japan at some point considered Koreans as a lowly race. In the past, the Spanish considered Jewish people as a blight and drove them out of Europe. In Israel,there are reports of dark-skinned Jewish people being shunned and abused. There were Chinese people who expressed that they were being discriminated by blacks in America. To just point everything to the whites as racist, the fact of the matter is, almost every race is guilty of racism.

The answer, probably patience, sensitivity and understanding and where racism generally comes from the elderly or the parents, the young need to learn quickly what is right and what is wrong from these very people they were raised from or look up to. Its up to the young to stamp out these racist views, traditions and beliefs.

I think I just discovered a new form of censorship.

I also think that "patience, sensitivity and understanding" can use the art of acting as a catalysis to trigger this change.

When Neil Diamond (no, not the singer) pitched an idea for a film about a "weird phenomenon" -- white folk playing aboriginals in movies -- he wanted to call it I'm Not an Indian, but I Play One on TV.

That was before the Cree filmmaker hooked up with Montreal's Rezolution Pictures to make Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian, his illuminating and entertaining documentary tracing the evolution of Hollywood's depiction of Indians and how such cinematic archetypes have influenced the way we view native culture.

"We cheered for the cowboys, never realizing we were the Indians," said Diamond, recalling his childhood in the Cree community of Waskaganish on James Bay.

"It was so isolated, we'd get old black-and-white films and other westerns projected on a big screen," he recalled. "That was our entertainment. I didn't get any TV in my community until I was 17."

Diamond later began wondering why the Cree kids identified more with the cowboys.

"The Indians were always losing and couldn't fight," he said. "They were stupidly circling wagons and got shot down. I don't think that ever happened to native people. Maybe it's just the most exciting way to film a battle."

Diamond's reflection on Hollywood's representation of the "redskin" from silent films through the political correctness of Dances With Wolves and today's indigenous filmmaking renaissance sparks classic movie memories during his road trip to Hollywood in a dilapidated "rez car."

Along the way, he pulls into such historic sites as Monument Valley, where many Hollywood westerns were filmed, and Wounded Knee and the Black Hills of South Dakota -- home of Crazy Horse, the mythologized Indian warrior who battled Custer and whose descendants live in poverty on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation.

Diamond ends up in Igloolik, Nunavut, where he interviews Zacharias Kunuk, director of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, an uplifting symbol of hope for native cinema's future.

In titled segments that reflect changing stereotypes -- The Noble Injun, The Savage Injun, The Groovy Injun and so on -- a fascinating smorgasbord of clips unspools. It includes archival footage of Bugs Bunny shooting natives for kicks; a horrifying scene from The Searchers where John Wayne shoots a dead Indian in the face; and scenes from such cliché-riddled westerns as John Ford's Stagecoach, which Ojibway film critic Jesse Wente terms "one of the most damaging movies for native people in history," Wente says. "It's because of John Ford they thought of us like [vicious, bloodthirsty killers] ... That's where we developed 'Tonto-speak.' "

Diamond also exposes how Navajo elders hired as actors would substitute subversive alternatives to lines in their native tongue. After an Indian chief is threatened by a U.S. cavalry officer in the 1964 western A Distant Trumpet, for instance, the native actor playing him goes off-script and instead replies: "Just like a snake, you'll be crawling in your own sh-t."

Diamond discovered the discrepancy after asking native American flutist Robert "Tree" Cody's wife Cynthia to translate. "She burst out laughing," he recalled.

Reel Injun also features commentary from historians, aboriginal actors Adam Beach (Flags of our Fathers) and Wes Studi (Last of the Mohicans), and Lakota actor and activist Russell Means (also a star in Last of the Mohicans) -- who angrily registers his disapproval of Kevin Costner's character teaching his people how to fight in Dances With Wolves. Also weighing in are directors Chris Eyre (Smoke Signals), Jim Jarmusch (Dead Man) and Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven), who reminisces about working with Chief Dan George on The Outlaw Josey Wales.

Diamond became one of Chief Dan George's biggest fans after seeing his humour-tinged turn in Little Big Man, "the first time I ever saw a native character smile in a movie."

He said he had good reason for wanting Eastwood on film, but it wasn't easy. It took a year before the Oscar-winning director was available, but he gave them an hour at his Los Angeles studio while he was preparing Invictus.

"Clint's one of the few directors who realizes it's bad storytelling to use stereotypes."

Another coup was getting Sacheen Littlefeather, the activist who famously declined Marlon Brando's Oscar for The Godfather in 1973 to protest the treatment of natives in the film industry.

Diamond chuckled as he recalled Littlefeather telling him how she made Oscar history.

After hearing Brando was a native rights advocate, she wrote him a letter and gave it to her San Francisco neighbour -- Godfather director Francis Ford Coppola. She didn't hear back until a year later.

"The voice on the phone said, 'Do you know I am?' " recalled Littlefeather.

Her reply: "Well, it's about time."

Reel Injun makes its Victoria première Wednesday at 7 p.m., at the Victoria Event Centre, during a fundraiser for Open Cinema.

I'm glad you posted these articles, because they pretty much show the truth of how Hollywood degrades minorities like it's some type of pass time.

To be honest, I'm tired of the black women being portrayed as a loud-mouthed, obese, vulgar, big booty, Ebonics speaking, harlot. Why is it that we can't be portrayed in a positive light? Why dose the black person constantly die in the movie, yet he's usually the one who chooses the wises option?

Yet they tell us to get over it or it's just humor.

Lol black women being portrayed as women with big booties? hahaha that was funny, lol how the hell can you stop an act of nature. A black woman without an ass is like peanut butter with no jelly. Not all black women are portrayed this way. You will only see them in this light in the usual "hood" movies directed by african americans. Black people dont even die first in movies anymore and no they dont always die. Did you watch Deep Blue Sea? LL Cool J survived while that shark was tearing everyone else up.

If you want to be upset blame the producers just like the hip hop producers. What are most black films usually about? Lets see a black romance, some thug trying to make it in the hood, comedy. Whites create all kinds of movies ranging from adventure, thrillers, fantasy, action etc. So if we going to stay in the same genre over and over and not do anything different then the stereotypes will stay. Just look at all the stereotypes hip hop is causing.

Yeah, I've seen that movie, dumb as hell. Samuel L. Jackson was killed, though. Proving my point that if there are two black guys in a movie, one of them has to die.

Lol black women being portrayed as women with big booties? hahaha that was funny, lol how the hell can you stop an act of nature. A black woman without an ass is like peanut butter with no jelly.

Sometimes in movies they over-exaggerate the big booty thing, that's all. I wasn't saying it was a bad thing, and there are black women without an ass. It's more common than you think.

Haha Samuel got annihilated in fact his death was the funniest in the whole movie. Right as he was making a point that shark rose up the water and got his ass. I can agree with you to an extent about black women's asses because yes in most movies when a black women is shown she is walking and the camera zooms in on her ass. Usually there is another scene with a man saying "dayuum" or soemthing like that. But there are many other movies where women are sexually exploited in who arent African American. If you scene Charlies Angels those latex outfits they wear hug extremely tight on their bodies. Look at Carmen Electra on most of the movies she stars in she is sexually exploited. Tomb Raider Angelina Jolie wearing extremely short shorts and a shirt that exposes her breast. Also a lot of emphasis is on her lips.

Your last comment about black women with no ass being common. Well thats true but I dont see that too often. Usually when I see a slim black girl with hips from behind it is always right. But yes I seen some that doesnt have one.

Vanity Fair is being accused of racism with their March 2010 magazine cover issue, showing the new hot stars and muses of Hollywood, who all happen to be white females.

While race is still a hotly debated topic in the 21st century, with "racism" being the hot iron that no-one wants to touch, it is obvious that the cover definetly lacks diversity. There are no Asian, Black or Hispanic actresses added to the 'Vanity Fair' cover (though it seems that most comments that are being made specifically talk about the lack of Black actresses).

USA Today has an article that carries some quotes from different blogs and there was one that particuarly caught my eye. It is from the ohnotheydidn't blog and it says "What does "Young Hollywood" look like? According to Vanity Fair, it's pretty, thin, female and white."

Is the Vanity Fair Magazine Cover Racist?

The Vanity Fair cover indicates more than anything just how exclusionary Hollywood and the media is; they exclude based on weight, attractiveness, and race (yes, there is still racism in 2010). Vanity Fair's magazine cover is disturbing to me for so many different reasons, and the above sentence sums it up perfectly. Everyone is thin, pretty and white. There are a lot of people on the web that have been sticking up for Vanity Fair, saying that they have choosen that demographic because those are the people that read their magazine (Vanity Fair knows I'm sure that that blanket statement is far from true but maybe they hope it to be so, like Ralph Lauren), and oh, Black people shouldn't care because they have JET and Ebony magazine to put them on the covers. I'm not going to get into a debate with myself at why these statements are idiotic and do nothing to address the issue. (Also, if you truly believe that Black magazines are wrong and only cater to black people; why would you be fine with 'Vanity Fair's' lack of diversity? Do two wrongs now make a right?). (Read the comments on Huffington Post to see what I am talking about).

Once again, I don't think this should be a White vs. Black issue, diversity is more than just black and white. Where are the Asian and Hispanic and Middle Eastern Actresses? Or is that the problem in-of-itself? How many Asian, Hispanic and Middle-Eastern actresses can we name that are making it in Hollywood right now? Is Vanity Fair's magazine cover showing the lack of diversity on behalf of Hollywood on behalf of Vanity Fair? I would say it's a bit of both- I mean why not feature Zoe Saldana or Gabby Sidibe?